Absolutely agree. I head him speak at TED India and felt it was tough for him, as an outsider to survive in Indian politics. Probably 5 or 10 years too early. I hoped that he would manage with the power of his speech and class.
All politicians, Congress and Opposition wanted him gone - while he was clean like the PM, Pranab M and Anthony AK, he was too young and speaking his mind. He would be one of the first ones to be inducted when Rahul gets to be PM one day

11:36 am April 19, 2010

Ranjeet wrote:

While Mr. Tharoor may be a well credentialed individual, he had too many close ties to business (mostly from Dubai) to be able to do his job without any conflict of interest. And thats what got him in the end. I agree that there is corruption everywhere in Indian politics but does that mean that we just let it be, and not go after those that engage in improper behaviour? I don't think so, and yes, maybe it is time to go after some others as well.

2:51 pm April 19, 2010

BV wrote:

I cant defend an anglicized corrupt person against an illiterate corrupt one.

He lets us - those who believed in educated people providing a better alternative - down with his stupidity.
He may be knowledgeable - he's certainly not wise.

This column seeks to offer a fig-leaf to those wearing Armani.... un-necessary and displaying ignorance

6:27 pm April 19, 2010

Rajib wrote:

I wrote this in my blog last night when I heard of Tharoor's resignation.............

Today is a black day in Indian politics as Shahsi Tharoor has been made to resign. I believe that this is a great shock for common citizens in India / the professionals and others who have already written off the existing stereotype politicians who create unruliness in the house of Parliament and whom we see regularly being covered by the media. It is no wonder that because of Tharoor's lack of political capital that Congress Party can so easily dump him / sacrifice him - it is almost like this that tomorrow morning (Monday), the Party does not want to hear the oppositions taking about the silly Tharoor issue and the easiest way is to dump him!! Coming back to the point of our hope that Tharoor was bringing some element of changes in the current system - his tweets had created a revolution in the so far opaque Indian political system; his actions were bringing some degree of transparency, which we, Indians have never seen from any politician. So, he was basically a threat not only to the Congress leadership but also to all the 'typical' politicians..across the board. I am sure that except the few middle / upper class Indians (English speaking...who knows who Tharoor was), no one will shed a drop of tear for Tharoor.

It is even more surprising to find (& this makes the entire event a farce) that the issue on which he has been asked to leave is a trivial compared to what we have been seeing from the behavior of many politicians......even if we accept, for the sake of debate, that Sunanda acted as a proxy for Tharror, the event is a minuscule proportion compared to what we understand of 'performances' of many other ministers / ministries; for instance, all (intelligent) people very well understand what happened to the 2G auctions and the role money played and the involvement of the politicians....but, I am 100% sure that nothing will happen to the minister......there are many many examples that we have for the existing ministers who will never (I repeat, never) be asked to resign..........again, just to recall, everyone in Pune (& many people in Maharastra) knows that Lavassa belongs to which politician......maybe those politicians know a far far better way of managing the proxies (like peels of onion) through which they manage their ownership / control.........so, they will remain comfortable in their current situation.

Final point, on reciprocity of punishment to the cricketing (read IPL) personnel....well, may be Lalit Modi may have to bear some burn.......but, once again the politicians, who control everything from behind, will go scottfree; this is because all political parties have their men in BCCI - Sharad Pawar, Arun Jaitley, Lalu Prasad, Narendra Modi...so, when there is a such a comfortable ecosystem, I am sure that such co-existence will not be hamperred much...instead, once again some other individual, without much political capital (who thought he had as he thought he knows Mukesh Ambani, Shah Rukh Khan & others) may have to bear the pain...

Again, loosing Tharoor from the Union Cabinet is a almost like a personal loss for me.....waiting for next action from Tharoor

12:07 am April 20, 2010

Sweet Heart, Sweat Equity and the Sensuous World of IPL Betting, Money laundering and Black Money in the Free Market Democracy in US Periphery of War Economics and FOOD Insecurity! « Palashbiswaskl’s Weblog wrote:

[...] The Great Indian Politician Wall Street Journal (blog) - Mitra Kalita – ‎10 hours ago‎ His girlfriend, Sunanda Pushkar, stood to benefit from a stake in the team (which she has said she will rescind) and Tharoor said he gave the winning … Calcutta Telegraph [...]

5:23 am April 20, 2010

watchdog wrote:

I cannot agree with you. Baalu and Tharoor are poles apart. I expected the likes of Tharoor to reform crude, corrupt elements in India's parliament and inspire the new generation of policy makers. He should have avoided this conflict of interest or carefully tackled it by early disclosure.
Baalu is a remnant of the dark License Raj days. Tharoor represents "the global Indian" and "the India growth story"... the fact that Baalu and others are comfortably swimming in dirt creeks is not an excuse for Tharoor to seemingly take a dip in one. When you set a high moral ground... well, ask Eliot Spitzer.

7:36 am April 24, 2010

Jyoti wrote:

I CANNOT believe that the Indian politics would do this to a man of Shashi Tharoor's ability and hither-to demonstrated fair play. I fail to see where the conflict of interest is. Is the IPL not completely private? Is Tharoor not in the Foreign Affairs ministry? Where then is the conflict of interest?
If we stand by and watch Tharoor go, we will deserve the politicians that we will get in the future. Truly, we have to be the change that we want to see.

2:36 pm April 2, 2011

Niel Hirjee wrote:

Good to see educated, qualified and politically savy people like Dr. Fuad Halim (http://www.drfuadhalim.in) standing for election - such people can bring with them all the advantages one expected from Sashi Tharoor but without the his political naivity and inexperience with India and Indians.

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